It's the Great Pumpkin, Steve Rogers!
by beatlechicksteph
Summary: Following a lead from Fury, Steve Rogers finds himself in a pumpkin patch where he has an encounter with a beautiful British woman and her two small children.


**This one shot was written for Marvelously Magical's Something Wicked Fic Exchange. My prompt was "The Couple Finds Something Strange in a Pumpkin Patch."**

"Hugo, slow down!" Hermione shouted as her three year old trotted through the field of pumpkins as she followed behind with her four year old daughter, Rose.

"Mummy! I want a big one!" Hugo shouted over his shoulder as he ran.

"Of course, love, please watch where you're going!" Hermione answered.

The three of them had just relocated to the state of New York from London a few months ago, and the kids at the muggle preschool the kids attended kept talking about Halloween and picking pumpkins from the pumpkin patch, so after a few days of begging, Hermione finally caved and brought the kids to the local pumpkin patch in order to experience their first American Halloween activity. The kids were buzzing with excited energy, Hugo more than Rose, and it was nice to see them so happy and carefree. Ever since they had lost their father, it had been rare to see the kids so excited about something.

"Mummy!" Hugo shouted, turning his head again to look behind him. "Mummy! Can we get two pumpkins?"

Hermione laughed. "We'll see. Hugo, please turn and watch—" she didn't get to finish that sentence, when she watched Hugo crash into a tall, broad man, dressed in a costume.

The man reached out and steadied Hugo so he wouldn't fall to the ground. And he looked up at the man and gasped.

"Captain America!" he shouted.

"Hello, young man," the man said. "You should really watch where you're running, or you're going to get hurt."

"Are you really Captain America?" Hugo asked.

"I am," the man said. "What's your name?"

"Hugo," Hugo answered.

"It's nice to meet you."

Hermione made her way to the pair. "I'm so sorry, Mr…America," she said. "I was just telling Hugo to watch where he was running."

She watched as the man's eyes got this look of sadness in his eyes when he looked at her, but that soon disappeared, and replaced with a smile. "That's okay, ma'am, no damage."

"What are you doing in a pumpkin patch, Captain America?" Rose asked next to her.

Hermione looked down at her kids. "How do you know this man?" she asked.

"He's Captain America! He's an Avenger!" Hugo answered.

Hermione frowned. "What's an Avenger?"

"A superhero!" Rose answered. "They saved the world from Aliens!"

Hermione looked up at the man in front of her. "Really?"

Captain America shrugged. "Yes, ma'am. I guess you could phrase it like that." The man knelt so he was at the same level as Hugo. "And I'm here because we heard that there's something a little weird about this pumpkin patch. Something has been coming at night and taking pumpkins."

Hugo gasped. "The Great Pumpkin!"

It was the man's turn to look at them confused. "No, it's not a pumpkin, it's taking the pumpkins."

Hermione laughed. "He's talking about the Charlie Brown movie. They wait in a pumpkin patch for The Great Pumpkin to come and reassure them that they have the best pumpkin patch. Have you not seen it?"

Captain America shook his head. "I have not."

"You should give it a watch sometime, Mr. America," Hermione said with a smile.

The man looked up and locked eyes with her, and she felt the air leave her lungs. "I may just have to do that, ma'am."

The moment between them was broken when there was a rustling in the leaves in the distance. She looked away in time to see a little brown butt duck behind a pumpkin. She would recognize a butt like that anywhere. A niffler. She sighed. She would have to come back tonight and trap the damn thing.

The man stood up. "Well, I should let you guys get back to your pumpkin hunting. It was nice to meet you, Hugo."

"Nice to meet you, too, Captain America!"

"Ma'am," he said, nodding.

"Captain," she replied.

She turned and watched as he walked away, the sun glinting off the shield he had hanging on his back, and she frowned. Was he there for the niffler? Or was he here for something else? She shook her head, and turned back to her kids, leading them toward the bigger pumpkins as they chattered away enthusiastically about meeting Captain America.

 **HAPPY HALLOWEEN**

Steve Rogers looked around the dark pumpkin patch, his eyes having long adjusted to the dark. When he was at the patch earlier that day, he hadn't found anything suspicious, which meant that whoever was smuggling weapons through the patch only operated at night. He had gotten a call from Fury that the patch was being used as a front for Hydra to smuggle weapons, so he had come to scope things out during the daylight hours. He probably should have done it not in his uniform, but he felt more official when he wore it.

He thought back to the British family he had run into that afternoon and smiled. Those little red-headed kids were cute and he couldn't help but look back on them fondly as he thought about their enthusiasm for meeting him. Which led him to remember their mother, and blush. He definitely had a type. Dark haired and British. He shook his head. Unavailable, he told himself.

He moved through the pumpkins, careful to not smash any. He was sure there was something to find out here. The buildings had all checked out as legitimate. There had to be some hidden door or underground dwelling he wasn't seeing. Or Fury's intel had been wrong.

He came up short when he noticed another person moving through the patch. He reached back to grip his shield, but stopped short when he noticed it was the woman from earlier. The mom of the two little redheads. He watched as she knelt next to pumpkins and pointed a stick behind them. He didn't know why he did what he did next, but it was probably curiosity getting the best of him, plus, he was very attracted to her. He approached her.

"Did you lose something?" he said as he neared her.

She jumped up, swinging the stick toward him, and when she recognized him, she brought her hand to her chest. "Merlin, you surprised me."

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you," he said, his hands up.

She shook her head, and lowered the stick. "No, it's fine. I just wasn't expecting anyone else out here at this hour."

"Neither was I," Steve replied. "Did you lose something when you were here with your kids?"

She shook her head. "I didn't. I am actually here working. Which I assume you are as well, Mr. America?"

Steve laughed. "Steve, please, my name is Steve," he said.

The woman smiled. "Hermione."

"Nice to meet you, Hermione."

"Likewise, Steve."

"So, what are you looking for? Maybe I can help."

"So, background, I was told that your group is allowed to know things like this by my supervisor when I talked to him earlier, I am a witch, and I work with the Magical Creature's department with MACUSA. While I was here earlier, I noticed a niffler, which is a magical creature. This particular creature looks adorable, however it is a little thief. So I'm here looking for its den, so I can bring it in."

Steve nodded. "Well, ma'am, the only thing I understood in that sentence was that you're a witch looking for a thief, so I'll try to help you look for that creature, if you will help me try and find anything that looks like it could lead to a hidden location someone would use to hide or smuggle weapons."

"No pumpkin thief, Captain?" Hermione said with a smile.

"No pumpkin thief. I didn't want to scare your son."

"I appreciate that."

The two began walking through the rows of pumpkins, looking down at the ground behind the large orange fruit, careful to where they placed their feet.

"Are the kids at home with your husband, then?" Steve asked, trying to make conversation as they looked for anything suspicious.

"Babysitter," she answered. "My husband was killed in duty about six months ago."

Steve stopped walking. "I'm so sorry for your loss," he replied. He thought about how little her kids were and his heart broke that they had to experience such a tragedy so young.

"Thank you," Hermione replied. "The worst of it was he was set to quit being an Auror, or police officer, at the end of the month. He had put his notice in. He was going to work with his brother at a joke shop. But the raid he was on went pear shaped, and he didn't make it back. We moved here last month for a fresh start."

Steve nodded. "I can understand that. Wanting a fresh start."

"I bet you could," Hermione answered. "I read a bit about you when we got home earlier today. I can't imagine waking up after seventy years to a brand new and unfamiliar world."

"It's been a rough transition," Steve said. "But I'm getting used to it. Little by little."

Hermione reached up and placed a hand on his shoulder, and he held in a gasp, as he felt an almost electric shock run through him at her touch. He looked down at her, and from the look on her face he could tell that she felt it, too.

He opened his mouth to say something, but movement out of the corner of his eye caused him to pause. He turned his head, and could see some movement amongst the pumpkin vines. He tilted his head as he watched a large figure begin to rise from the patch. It was completely in the shadows, but it seemed to have a large, round head.

"Niffler?" Steve asked Hermione quietly, pointing.

"Not a niffler," Hermione replied, just as quietly, as she shifted her grip on the stick and began lifting it toward the figure.

Steve brought his hand up to his shield, removing it from his back, holding it in his hand so that he could easily use it as either a weapon or to shield him and Hermione if needed. That's when he noticed the large round head, looked more like a pumpkin.

"What in the world…" he murmured, squinting toward the figure.

"The Great Pumpkin?" he heard Hermione mutter next to him.

He shook his head. Impossible. What were they looking at? Before he could get any more thoughts through his head, he watched as the pumpkin headed figure lifted up a large gun and aimed it at the couple.

"Gun!" Steve shouted, lifting his shield in front of him and Hermione as the figure began firing at them.

"Protego!" he heard Hermione shout next to him, and he noticed the bullets began bouncing off of some unseen force.

"Shield charm," Hermione explained. "I've got it around both of us," she said.

Steve didn't need to be told anymore, he took his shield and flung it, knocking down the gunman. As the shield returned to him, he realized this person was not the only person in the pumpkin patch. He saw some movement behind Hermione, and the look on Hermione's face showed she had seen some behind him. They looked at each other, giving a little nod.

Hermione ducked down, and leaned around his body, pointing her stick, saying something in Latin as he threw his shield into the darkness behind her. It seemed that taking down that one pumpkin headed man, had let out a veritable stream of people emerging from the pumpkin patch. He and Hermione fought as if they had been fighting side by side for years. Back to back they moved around each other, him throwing his shield and sometimes punches if the people got to close, and her firing off whatever with her stick. After what seemed like minutes, they had taken everyone out, and Hermione had managed to bind everyone so they wouldn't be able to get away.

He and Hermione turned toward each other. They stared at each other, breathing hard. The adrenaline was high. And he knew in the back of his mind that she was a new widow. But he couldn't help himself as he did something completely uncharacteristic and closed the gap between them, and kissed her. Hermione didn't even hesitate to return the kiss. They pulled apart and stared at each other for a second before Steve realized he still needed to finish up this mission he was on.

He put his hand to his ear, "This is Rogers, I need cleanup at the pumpkin patch. Turns out Fury's intel was correct." After getting confirmation that SHIELD was going to send a crew, he turned toward Hermione.

"Want to get dinner sometime?" he asked.

She nodded her head. "I would love that."

 **ONE YEAR LATER**

Hermione laughed as she trudged through the pumpkin patch. She looked ahead of her as Hugo led Steve by the hand as they weaved through the pumpkins, Rose perched high up on his shoulders.

She had been so worried, dating again after losing Ron, what would the kids think? But Steve had been so patient with her. They had taken things very slowly, and things just seemed to work between them. And once they met him outside of being Captain America, the kids had really fallen in love with him. And he had loved them. It didn't take much adjustment for him to join their little family.

It was probably crazy for her to have fallen in love with another man who put his life in danger, and she would always worry about his safety no matter how much super soldier serum ran through his veins. But his missions weren't very often, and he was home with her and the kids most of the time. He enjoyed playing dad to the kids, taking them to and from preschool, cooking dinner for them on nights he was home. And he always made it clear tat he wasn't replacing Ron, but adding to their lives. And he loved learning about the magical world, and trying to understand the differences between their world and his.

She smiled as they stopped in front of the biggest pumpkin in the patch, Hugo arguing about why this had to be the pumpkin they needed. This year he was coming with them to London for Christmas. She was nervous, since she had only mentioned briefly to her family and friends she was dating someone else. She expected a bit of judgment about how quickly she had moved on in her life. But as she watched Steve set Rose on the ground and lift the giant pumpkin as if it weighed nothing, she found herself not caring what other people thought. She loved this man, and she looked forward to creating many more traditions with him as the years allow.


End file.
